This invention is in the field of sewing machines, more specifically, it is concerned with the means for threading the sewing needle of an electronically controlled family zig-zag sewing machine.
Sewing machine needle threaders are known in the prior art. There is, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 698,414 issued on Apr. 22, 1902 to Schaefer which disclosed a thread guide having a conical opening leading to the eye of a sewing needle, with a pair of thread gripping fingers behind the eye to grasp thread guided therethrough.
There is also U.S. Pat. No. 2,544,577 issued on Mar. 6, 1951 to Weber, which discloses a needle threader mounted on a bracket which follows a track formed in and fastened to the sewing machine head in order to position the threader adjacent the eye of the sewing needle. Means are provided in this device, in the environment of a straight stitch sewing machine, to position the threader adjacent the eye of the sewing needle by having a portion of the threader impinge upon the driving stud of the needle bar.
In order to have a needle threader operative with a zig-zag sewing machine, it is normally necessary to locate the needle bar in a specific left, center or right needle position, and to rotate the hand wheel so that the sewing needle is located in a specific position such as top dead center.
There is also known in the prior art electronically controlled sewing machines wherein the needle bar may be positioned laterally by electric drive means under the control of electronic circuitry. Such a sewing machine is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,745 issued on Oct. 5, 1976 to Minalga. The use of electronic control for the sewing instrumentalities of a sewing machine represents a new step forward in sewing machine design in as much as the sewing capabilities of such a sewing machine may be greatly enlarged and operation thereof may be simplified by elimination of some of the previously required controls for mechanically controlled sewing machines.
What is required is some means to simplify the use of a needle threader system with such an electronically controlled sewing machine, thereby making it readily available for the use of an operator.